Iris Johansen - Stalemate

"I knew it could be bad." She finished her soup and threw back the covers. "I need to see Joe. I'm still a little unsteady. Will you help me dress?"

"My pleasure." He smiled as he picked up the bra on the bed. "Turnabout is fair play. You've seen me naked."

Naked? Oh, yes, she'd almost forgotten that night in Louisiana. "Joe didn't get much pleasure when you told him, you devil."

"He needed stirring up." He helped her take off the nightshirt. "And I'm always willing to oblige…"

Montalvo met her at the door as she walked slowly down the hall toward Joe's bedroom. "It's good to see you on your feet." He nodded at Galen. "I'll take her in to see him."

Galen's brows raised. "Eve?"

She nodded curtly. "I don't care. I just want to see Joe."

"I'll deliver her safely back to her room, Galen." Montalvo opened the door for her. "She won't be long."

"Don't count on it." She went past him into the room that was dimly lit by a single lamp on the bedside table.

Joe was lying in the massive bed across the room. For a big man he looked… small. Small and oddly helpless. It shook her. She wasn't accustomed to Joe looking anything but tough and totally pulled together.

She sank down in the chair beside the bed.

"He's just had his medication," Montalvo said behind her. "He won't be awake again for another couple hours. That's why I thought you might want to go back to your room after you assured yourself that he wasn't any worse than I told you."

"For once you were wrong about me." She took Joe's hand in both of hers. "I won't go anywhere until he knows I'm alive and with him." She leaned back in the chair. "So you might as well run along, Montalvo."

"Soon." He sat down in a chair a short distance away. "I'll keep you company for a time."

"I don't need your company. I have Joe."

"Who's not with us at present."

"He's always with me."

He was silent a moment. "Your history with Quinn must be extraordinary."

Joe holding her through the night in the time after Bonnie had been taken. Joe talking to her, trying to make sense out of the madness. Joe giving, taking, beside her through a thousand dawns and sunsets.

"You have no idea," she said unsteadily.

"No, but I wish I did. I had Nalia for only three years. We had the joy. We had no real time to bond as you did with Quinn. We were cheated of that." He stared down at the carpet at his feet. "And she was cheated of so much more. There was a whole world I was going to show her. She grew up in the jungle and only knew struggle and war. Yet she became… a wonder. Do you believe people are born with souls?"

"Yes."

"I didn't. Not before I met her." He paused. "Your Joe will be fine. I promise you."

Her hand tightened on Joe's. "I know he will. I won't let it be any other way."

He got to his feet. "And I had no part in hurting him, Eve. I gave you your chance. I didn't betray you."

She didn't answer.

"I know you're confused and you don't want to waste any time thinking about anything but Quinn. That will pass. Truth is important. We both realize that in the end there's very little as vital."

"Except your revenge."

"And your revenge." He headed for the door. "I'll have Miguel check on you during the next few hours. He'll get you anything you need."

"I don't need revenge right now. I need Joe to get well."

"I believe that will also pass after he recovers. And you might consider what Quinn's reaction is going to be. Revenge is a very basic desire. How primitive is your Joe Quinn?"

She remembered the Joe who had met her that night in the jungle. Primitive? Hell, yes. "I don't want to think about that right now. Go away, Montalvo."

He smiled. "Forgive me. I didn't mean to disturb you."

"No, with you it comes naturally."

"Perhaps. Or it could be that I'm eaten up with envy of your history with Quinn. But new history is formed every day. Sometimes you just have to put the old history behind you."

She frowned. "What the devil are you talking about?"

"Something you don't want to hear. Good night, Eve. I'll see you in the morning. Or if you want to talk to me, I'm always at your disposal."

She watched the door close behind him. As usual, he was being maddeningly enigmatic, and she didn't want to deal with him right now. She had enough on her plate and she needed to concentrate all her attention on Joe.

Jesus, he was pale. Montalvo had said he'd lost a lot of blood and there was clear evidence that was true.

Wake up, Joe.

Look at me. Let me see that you're going to be fine. Just wake up…

"Eve?"

Eve's lids flew open. Joe was awake and looking up at her.

"Hi," she said softly as she leaned forward, her hand grasping his. "You're being very boring lying there sleeping. I must have dozed off."

"Sorry." His gaze was on the bandage on her temple. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"How fine?"

She should have known Joe wouldn't accept a pat answer. "The bullet grazed my temple. It was a little too close and I ended up with a concussion. It put me out for a time or I would have been here sooner."

"Montalvo was here. I asked… He said you were alive and well." His lips tightened. "Liar."

"No, I was as well as could be expected. He didn't want you to worry."

"Is that why they kept giving me drugs?"

"No, they gave you drugs because you were in pain. You got the worst of the attack. You covered me with your body."

"Not in time. You were still hurt."

"In plenty of time. I'm alive. According to Galen, I wouldn't have been if you hadn't jerked me down. The bullet was aimed at my head."

" Damn him." He was silent a moment. "Then it probably wasn't Montalvo. He wouldn't mind me dead. But he wants you alive and functioning."

"Galen checked his ID and the shooter was named Duarte and he works for Ramon Diaz. Diaz must have sent him to make sure I didn't do the job I was brought here to do."

"He came close." Joe's eyes were once again on the bandage on Eve's temple. "Too close."

She didn't like the hard edge she heard in his voice. She had heard it before and it usually meant anger barely leashed. "It didn't happen, Joe."

"He hurt you."

"Not nearly as much as you were hurt."

"And you think Diaz isn't going to come after you again? You're caught in the middle between him and Montalvo. He's going to keep on coming until he puts you down."

"That's not going to happen. Stop thinking about it. Concentrate on getting well. That's what's important right now."

He nodded curtly. "Damn right, that's important. I'll be out of this bed by the end of the week."

"Not likely."

"Entirely likely." He closed his eyes. "Tell Galen I want to see him, will you?"

"Hey, are you trying to get rid of me?"

"Hell, no." He didn't open his eyes but he squeezed her hand before releasing it. "I'm just making sure no one else does."

How primitive is your Joe Quinn?

Montalvo's words came back to her as she looked down at Joe. She hadn't even wanted to consider the answer to a question that would have opened a whole can of worms. Yet she knew it had been in the back of her mind. There was no one who was more protective or more vengeful than Joe if the occasion warranted it.

Jesus, and this occasion definitely warranted it.

"Stop fretting and get me Galen," Joe said.

"I'm not fretting. I want to shake you."

He opened his eyes and smiled faintly. "The way I wanted to shake you when you wouldn't come back to Bogota with me? Don't argue. I'm not listening."

Her hands closed in frustration as she stared at him. "Joe, this isn't the-"

"Galen," he said again.

She jumped to her feet. "I'll get Galen because you're hurt and I don't want you upset." She strode toward the door. "But this isn't the end of this discussion." She jerked open the door. "What the devil am I talking about? You won't even let me argue you back to some sort of reason."